


The Special Relativity of Space-Time

by golden_d



Category: Torchwood
Genre: Community: writerinadrawer, Gen, WriterInADrawer 4.05
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-07-08
Updated: 2010-07-08
Packaged: 2017-10-10 11:19:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/99176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/golden_d/pseuds/golden_d
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This story was written for Writer in a Drawer Round 4.05.</p><p>The requirements were:</p><p>Prompt: Phone Calls to the Grave.  A Torchwood member finds a phone/mobile that will let them call anyone, from any time past, present or future.  Who do they call first and why?<br/>Added Element: An acronym</p><p>If you are interested in this contest please visit http://community.livejournal.com/writerinadrawer.</p>
    </blockquote>





	The Special Relativity of Space-Time

**Author's Note:**

> This story was written for Writer in a Drawer Round 4.05.
> 
> The requirements were:
> 
> Prompt: Phone Calls to the Grave. A Torchwood member finds a phone/mobile that will let them call anyone, from any time past, present or future. Who do they call first and why?  
> Added Element: An acronym
> 
> If you are interested in this contest please visit http://community.livejournal.com/writerinadrawer.

They were standard issue for Time Agents, in case of wrist-strap failure (or theft) when they needed to call for backup. Jack had promptly lost his, but he'd never needed it anyway. Nonetheless, when one fell through the Rift, he knew exactly what it was.

"It's a Time-Talker," he said, showing it to the team. "You can call anyone, anywhere, anywhen."

"It's a mobile," Ianto said, one eyebrow raised.

"Camouflage!" Jack replied gleefully. "Takes the shape of a communication device of the time it lands in. Very high-tech. If this were a hundred years ago, it would probably be a telegraph machine."

"And you, what, just ring the future?" Owen asked. "Earth to the Future, is your refrigerator running?"

"Not a toy, Owen," Jack said with a grin, clapping him on the shoulder. "It's a comm, a safety device for time travellers in case they get lost."

Gwen poked at the screen. "Does it only ring the future, or could we call the past, too?"

"Dials any time you like," he said, "and don't touch it. Highly sensitive temporal object here."

Tosh, ever-practical and ever-curious, stepped in: "How does it work, then? Are there different codes to dial--I don't know, 1943, London, Winston Churchill?"

"Codes are a very pre-Twenty-Third Century thing," Jack said. "It's fully voice-activated. Time age--_travellers_ were only supposed to call other travellers, but if you wanted to call Winston Churchill and he was near a phone, then there'd be nothing stopping you." He paused. "Except for the fact that this is not a toy and if I catch any of you playing with it, there will be some serious disciplinary actions taken, and I don't mean in the fun way. We can't afford to meddle with time, kids."

He locked it in his desk, but it wasn't a hard lock to pick if you were determined, or had prior lock-picking experience. But the phone remained untouched for some time, because Lisa was best left a ghost, and Gwen could call Rhys any time she wanted, and Owen couldn't decide if he wanted to call Diane or Katie and hated himself for it.

And then one night when Jack and Ianto were out Weevil hunting, the twist of a hairpin opened Jack's desk, and then Toshiko and the mobile returned to her work station. She spread her papers out before her, grabbed a pencil, took a deep breath, and said:

"1940, USA, New Jersey, Princeton University, Professor Einstein."

It rang, it rang, and there was a staticky click, and a voice said, "Hello?"

She felt a little shiver of excitement. "Herr Einstein? I'm so glad I've reached you. My name is Toshiko Sato, I'm a British physicist. I would love to talk to you about your research into unified field theory..."

**Author's Note:**

> Beta credit to Foxy for keeping me consistent. Couldn't do it without her!


End file.
